SPLENDID HAT
Hypnotism Made Easy – Anonymous
We’re one whole Planet Earth year into our Cosmic Pancakes! adventure, hypno-seekers!
So now seems a good time to ask: where are you at with your understanding of hypnosis and suggestion? Are you A Hypnotist yet?
Personally, I’ve boiled the whole business of peddling my outrageous suggestions down to this three-point process:
Declare yourself to the world as A Hypnotist
Take credit for everyone and everything
Buy yourself a splendid hat
It’s as easy – and succinct – as that.
But, back in 1971, this anonymous pamphleteer figured he could provide a similarly easy and succinct process. (I say ‘he’ with confidence: nothing about the tone, instructions and described interactions cause me to suspect otherwise.)
Hypnotism Made Easy comprises 10 ‘lessons’ across a meagre 10 pages in rather big print. Has our pamphleteer cracked his promise to make hypnotism easy? Or is this just a cheap, lazy, disappointing pamphlet to add to my last pamphlet fail? Let’s get started on these lessons to find out…
‘Lesson 1: Securing a Suitable Subject’ isn’t the most encouraging start. “Advice on this point is rather difficult to give, as it is practically impossible to tell without trial whether a person is easily hypnotizable or not.” Hmm. Aside from the titbit that oppositional men are not good hypnotic subjects, it’s pretty empty ‘advice’.
Lessons two and three are dedicated to making subjects fall backwards or forwards. Our author gives very detailed guidance on, say, how to position yourself and your subject, and what levels of staring and stroking are best employed. But we then skip to vague ‘when you’re sure it’s going to work’ statements.
“Do not give up! Repeat several times! Keep trying, even if the subject is resistant! DO NOT GIVE UP!” Lessons four, five and six on a stuck hand, a forgotten name and a stiff leg are packed with these entreaties.
One gets the impression that our author’s general technique is to bore and unnerve his subjects into performing the desired test. Which is, of course, one way to do it – simply demand, compel and stroke-stroke-stroke til your subjects are cowed one way or another.
It doesn’t come across as very entertaining though… I don’t imagine the author got invited back to many cocktail parties after his hypnosis demos. Though we are informed that watching a subject with a stiff leg try to walk “will probably be the cause of much laughter.” Mmn – ‘probably’.
‘Lesson 7: Producing Sleep’ almost put me to sleep. But the next lesson, ‘Additional Methods Of Inducing Sleep’, roused me with its mentions of making hand passes over the body, tapping on the head, and pressing at the root of the nails. Hypnotic sleep is brought about by the tiring of one set of nerves, we are told.
Next up: ‘The Secret of Instant Hypnosis’! Now, this is more like it! But, surprisingly, this isn’t the usual carotid artery revelation..? Nope, this is a suggestion that you tap a subject’s jaw while telling him he’s got toothache until he probably – hopefully, maybe, etc – jumps up from his seat with a howl. What a disappointment and betrayal to the art of pamphleteering!
The final lesson is on awakening a subject. The author spends quite some time on different scenarios and challenges in waking his subjects. Having commented a couple of times previously on the risk of subjects slipping into ‘sleep’ during his other tests, I conclude that boring subjects into a hypnotic coma is a particular issue for him.
Our author ends with an “IMPORTANT” warning to be a confident and competent hypnotist at all times, and never to lose control of ourselves and our subjects. Which is rich given he has provided no advice on how to achieve these things.
The best thing about this pamphlet is the mad ads at the front and back, including book courses for crystal gazing and developing your psychic powers.
I suggest anyone tempted to try this author’s approach to hypnosis orders a copy of ‘How To Conduct A Séance’ forthwith, so that they can rouse their subjects from the dead.
